You may already be a finance business partner but feel there’s something lacking in your work. Do you have dreams of being the best finance business partner possible? It’s necessary to develop a clear vision of your goals and how you’d like to add value and support a company to make the right decisions.
So, how can you become the best finance business partner possible? We’ve put together some tips to help you achieve your dreams.
1. Develop Financial Expertise
If you want to make your dreams come true as a finance business partner, it’s essential to build a strong base of financial expertise. It’s necessary to improve your knowledge of accounting principles, financial analysis, and budgeting. Keep yourself current on industry trends, regulations, and emerging technologies. In addition, ensure you’re familiar with key performance indicators (KPIs) that are relevant to your business.
With the right expertise, you’ll have the ability to analyse financial data, identify patterns, and draw meaningful insights that can benefit your company. Your expertise empowers you to offer valuable recommendations that support strategic decision-making with the stakeholders in your organisation.
2. Develop Strong Communication Skills
Effective communication is another way to ensure that you become a successful finance business partner and that you can reach your goals and dreams. Finance business partners need the ability to convey complex financial concepts in a clear, concise manner to those who are non-finance individuals.
To be successful, customise your message for different stakeholders and adapt your communication style to fit their needs. In addition, actively listen to understand your stakeholders’ perspectives, challenges, and goals.
It’s also necessary to bridge the gap between finance and other departments in your company. By doing this, you’ll increase collaboration and build trust with other parts of the organisation.
So, having excellent communication and presentation skills can help you reach your dreams and goals as a finance business partner.
3. Become More Business Savvy
Another way to ensure you reach your goals as a finance business partner is to develop your business savvy. Learn how to understand and navigate the business landscape effectively, including your industry’s dynamics, market trends, and the company’s strategic objectives.
Immerse yourself in the business and create relationships with key stakeholders and members in other departments. Try to learn as much as you can about their pain points, objectives, and aspirations.
By leveraging your business knowledge, you can more easily align finance initiatives with the broader goals of your company, identify opportunities for improvement, and provide valuable financial insights and guidance.
4. Foster Collaborative Relationships
Strong collaborative relationships are essential to be a successful finance business partner. It’s essential to create strong business relationships with colleagues and stakeholders alike.
Find opportunities to engage with others in meetings and other collaborative efforts. Be sure to contribute valuable financial insights to decision-making processes. In addition, actively offer your expertise and support, demonstrating your commitment to their success.
When you work collaboratively, it’s easier to integrate financial strategies and considerations into business strategies, ensuring your organisation reaches its objectives.
5. Become a Trusted Advisor
If you’d like to fulfil your goals and dreams as a finance business partner, it’s essential to become THE person who offers financial insights and guidance in the organisation. You can establish yourself as a trusted advisor by demonstrating integrity, reliability, and professionalism.
Seek out opportunities to add value and anticipate the needs of your organisation’s stakeholders. Develop a deep understanding of their challenges and offer creative solutions backed by data-driven insights.
When you build trust and credibility, you become the “go-to” partner in the decision-making processes of your company.
6. Embrace Technology & Analytical Tools
Rely on technology to improve your analytical abilities and save time on financial processes. It’s also essential to stay current on new technologies such as financial software, data analytic tools, and visualisation tools.
Make every effort to become proficient in using these tools to analyse your organisation’s data, model scenarios, and present financial information effectively.
When you embrace technology, it allows you to offer timely, more accurate, and actionable insights that elevate your roles as a finance business partner within the organisation. Gaining trust and credibility are key, and technology can help.
7. Understand the Organization You Work For
The goal is to establish yourself as a finance business partner rather than a number cruncher. Your job is to partner with other departments within the business, and offer support and guidance, along with strategic advice.
In order to do the work, you need to understand the business you’re working in. It’s beneficial to read about what the organisation does and to take time to learn how the business operates.
Networking, subscribing to industry newsletters, and volunteering to do other work within the business can add more value to the work you do as a finance business partner.
8. Avoid Using Jargon – Speak Plainly
Effective communication is essential to a finance business partner. Communication must be clear and direct, without using financial terms and jargon that non-finance stakeholders and colleagues don’t understand.
While some terminology may be necessary at times, it’s best to avoid it as much as possible. For one thing, jargon can cause individuals to become lost in the details or miss key messages in your presentations. You want to avoid this at all costs.
Keep your message clear and concise without using jargon. It’s imperative to effectively communicate a persuasive message to the stakeholders and others in the meeting.
9. Be a Good Listener
Our final tip on how to be a successful finance business partner is to listen—be a good listener. Remember, communication is a two-way street. There’s no better way to understand what stakeholders want or need than by listening to them. You must listen to understand. It’s the only way to gain a deep understanding of what the other is saying they need.
Concluding Thoughts
Becoming the best finance business partner and reaching your dreams requires several skills. You need to develop each of these, including interpersonal skills, technical expertise, and more.
Follow the tips in this article to foster better communication and listening while improving your expertise and knowledge. These are the best ways to unleash your full potential and have a significant impact on the financial strategies within your company.
In-house
Public
Online
Experiential
